China Already Has A Plan To Sink The US Fleet In Any Upcoming Battles

As the U.S. makes clear it will defend Japan should China try and lay claim to the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, this Chinese announcement from mid-2012 offers additional perspective.

Once the U.S. announced it's turning attention from the Middle East and directing military assets to the Pacific, it didn't take long for China to make clear how it would handle what it saw as a new regional threat.

The Economic Times reported China promptly increased its conventional missile capability to carry out multiple launches, from multiple sites —a tactic that could overwhelm a Navy ship's defenses and cripple its abilities.

Tan Weihong, Commander of China's Second Artillery Force said, "Conventional missiles are a trump card in modern warfare. So we must be ready at any time. We must be able to deliver a quick response to attacks, hit the targets with high accuracy, and destroy them totally. Of the 114 missiles [our brigade] has launched so far, all have accurately hit the target."

For each incoming missile a U.S. Navy ship will have to perform some variation of the following actions:

Surviving missiles will be engaged by close-in weapons systems like the Mk-15 Phalanx or the RAM (Rolling Airframe Missile). Any incoming missiles struck by these systems will be so close, and moving so fast, that incoming shrapnel and debris would likely be unavoidable.

While all these "Hard Kill" options are going on, the ship's electronic warfare systems will have been trying to jam the incoming missile, offering the missile a false target, while firing off chaff (for radar guided weapons) and flares (for infrared guided weapons).

All that for every single missile, so if China can send off several at once directed at the same ship, the chances of success on their part may increase exponentially.

China would launch its ordnance both from shore and its new Aegis type 052 Luhu-class destroyers. This battle plan is especially relevant given the developments in the area over the past few days, which I'll address in a following post.

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Crazy that we're suddenly so close to armed conflict with China that both sides are talking about how to defeat the other's naval assets.

Something tells me that if this jumps off, it will not end quickly, or well.

Naturally, I think we can take 'em on the high seas, but how does the Humpty Dumpty of US-China trade and financial relations go back together after they sink an aircraft carrier (as they seem hell-bent on doing), and we destroy half a dozen of their ships, and kick them out of the disputed islands?

At the moment the advanced technology that the U.S.A. has is a force multiplier.
The problem starts when you only have a finite amount of ammunition & processing power to deal with all the incoming missiles. If there will be a barrage/ blanket firing, no matter what you have in your arsenal, you only need a few to get through to do the damage. Unless they have started using shield technology based on massive generators & tall towers to have a group of ships protected, i personally do not see the fleet lasting for long. The other option would be to engage a huge amount of submarines to offset the disadvantage of the surface fleet, by engaging the "enemy" at a larger distance.

Well all I can hope for is for this conflict not to eventuate. The conflict has already started on the internet. Before that, the U.S. sent the first salvo against Chinese sovereignty in the form of attacking the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade (Beograd) during the Yugoslav war in the 1990's. That was a message back then for them to back off. If it happened today, the consequences would be very different. These "actions" are not easily forgotten nor forgiven.
Oh well, that is my point of view anyway.